Sunday, April 08, 2012

The Canucks are once again the number one team in the
NHL. That is the second year in a row
that they have won the President’s Trophy.

I wasn’t particularly upset last year when they lost the
Stanley Cup in the seventh game to Boston.
Disappointed, for certain, but it was hard for me to be truly down. They had been, not only the best Canucks team
ever, but on paper they were one of the best teams ever in the regular season –
only letting go of a truly remarkable statistic in the final game of the season
(they very nearly had not only the league’s number one position, but also the
most goals for, the least against, the best power-play and the best penalty
kill – the last of which slipped from their grasp in the final game.) They were the Western Conference Champions,
they were assured a heap of hardware at the NHL awards, they had got the
Blackhawks money off their back... what was not to love? (Well, the asshole “fans” who rioted after
game seven, that is what – but that is a separate tale.) They had taken too many games to get to the
final round and simply didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to beat what was
quite possibly the goalie on the hottest hot streak ever. Tim Thomas, Boston’s back-stopper, topped off
a season that will be in the conversation any time people discuss the best
season a goal tender ever had, with a Stanley Cup raising ceremony on our home
ice.

But enough of Boston.
The Canucks were a wickedly good team last year – like the kind of team
that could be threatening to dominate for years. (I said so then, just check my Facebook
feed.) That was what mattered to me,
that we were that good. Losing game
seven was simply a lesson – a team learning what it takes to go all the
way. The same lesson well served both
the Edmonton dynasty of the 80s and the never ending juggernaut – now well into
its second generation of players – known as the Detroit Red Wings (who won 1/3rd
of the Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008! as well as not missing the finals in
nearly two decades – indeed this year may be their least contenderish since I
was in University, and they are still to be contended with).

And now, they have done it again. Last night they won their second President’s
Trophy in as many years. With the help
of a few last minute stumbles from the Rangers and Blues, for certain, but you
don’t get to the point of having the opportunity in your own hands by luck alone.

This is a pretty rare feat.
Less teams have been the top team in the league since the beginning of
the expansion era than have won back to back Stanley Cups in the same
period. (President’s Trophy doesn’t go
back that far, but you can do the math and project backwards.)

It is also somewhat scarily auspicious. Every team that has won back to back President’s
Trophies has gone on to win the Stanley Cup.
(Edmonton, Calgary and Dallas in their second President’s Trophy winning
year; Detroit in both the following years, plus see stats above.)

Last year when the oft repeated Canuck’s mantra “there’s
always next year” began ringing again, it never felt like it was more real, and
now it seems true. The next three months
will be long (especially in my neighbourhood, only 3 blocks from Rogers Arena)
and the Canucks may fail again. I won’t
cry if we fall short, but the simple fact that the team is this good and it is
clearly not a hiccough does make me well-up.
The Canucks have been good for years now, but their current level is
truly something to behold.

I simply don’t buy the “woe is us” attitude of most
Vancouver fans. Yeah, we don’t have a
cup (yet), but there are teams that are worse off. Teams that have gone longer. Teams whose road has been rockier. Teams who, even without the past two or even
five years of Canuck’s success taken into account, haven’t seen even the Canuck’s
level of success. Specifically I think
of the St. Louis Blues – who entered the league two years ahead of Vancouver
and have only been to the cup final twice.
But that was during the NHLs expansion equivalent of affirmative action –
where the expansion teams competed for one Cup final position, while the Original
Six competed for the other. Or, look at
the sorry fate of Buffalo. The Sabers
and Vancouver joined the league together.
The Sabers infamously won the coin toss for top-draft pick and chose the
mighty Gilbert Perrault, while Vancouver got Dale Tallon, who while a known
Vancouver name, largely due to being our first ever draft pick, was not even
close to the career-quality of Hall of Famer, Perrault. Even with that extra out-of-the-gate
advantage, the Sabers have only been to the Cup finals once. And what a Cup final it was... the right team
won (not the Sabers), but for absolutely the wrong reasons. (You may recall that the NHL changed the
rules as to what constitutes a goal for exactly the length of time it took for
Brett Hull to put his foot in the crease and sneak the puck past Hasek and for
the Dallas Stars to lift the hardware into the air. No, really, go and check out the time
line. No exaggeration. That is almost exactly how long the rule was
in effect. Almost certainly the worst
single call in the history of the NHL.
But I digress...)

We can’t complain. The
Canucks have been to the Cup final three times now – twice punching above their
weight, and once by simply being mighty.
And if history repeats, we will be there again this year, hoisting the
hardware. Yes, I will be happier once we
have won the Stanley Cup, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The Canucks of this decade are the best they
have ever been, and I am delighted to revel in that.